The entrance to the site of a mass grave of hundreds of children who died in the former Bons Secours home for unmarried mothers is seen in Tuam, County Galway June 4, 2014 (Reuters / Stringer) / Reuters

A decision was taken at an Irish Cabinet meeting Tuesday morning to set up a statutory commission into the way mother and baby homes were run between the 1920s and 1960s, including allegations of illegal vaccine trials and forced adoptions.

The special government commission will look at the high mortality
rates in mother and baby homes across Ireland during the period,
along with burial practices at the sites, secret and illegal
adoptions, and vaccine trials on children.

Minister for children Charlie Flanagan said Tuesday that it was
essential that “a light was shone on this dark period.”

“My determination is to ensure all of these issues are dealt
with in a way, which is comprehensive,” he said, as quoted by the Irish Times.

Flanagan said that an interdepartmental review into some of the
issues at the homes – including the high mortality rates, forced
adoptions, and burial practices – was already in progress. He
added that it would be completed by June 30 and that the
commission will be established by the beginning of the summer
recess at the end of July.

He made clear that all homes operating during this period would
be under the spotlight – including those operated by the state,
Catholic religious orders, and Church of Ireland religious
orders. He also called on the Catholic Church for full
cooperation and to hand over all relevant documents and material.

The minister for children did not say who would lead the
commission, but hinted that it may be a non-legal and
non-judicial person. He promised that the commission would call
upon the expertise of historians, social historians, and
archivists.

It is believed that about 35,000 unmarried mothers spent time
over several decades in 10 homes run by religious orders in
Ireland.

The inquiry was ordered after a scandal surrounding a home in
Tuam, County Galway, run by the Sisters of the Bon Secours, where
the remains of 796 infants are thought to be buried. Some of
their remains were found in what was once a concrete septic tank
on the grounds of the home.

Catherine Corless, the historian who made the shocking discovery,
says that records from the homes show that children died of
infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and measles.

Three other homes have little angel plots believed to hold the
remains of another 3,200 babies and infants.

“I’m seeking national consensus and I’m asking people to buy
into this process so we at last get to the truth,” said
Flanagan.

Mother and baby homes accommodated women who fell pregnant
outside of marriage and who were ostracized by Catholic society.
The homes were often cruel environments, where mothers were only
allowed to see their children for a few hours each week.

Revelations printed in the Daily Mail last week stated that over
2,000 children were secretly used as guinea pigs in the 1930s in diphtheria vaccine
trials by drugs giant Burroughs Welcome – despite the fact that
medical testing only became officially legal in Ireland in 1987.